5 Questions
What is the main cause of spontaneous mutations?
Replication errors
What differentiates induced mutations from spontaneous mutations?
They are caused by environmental agents
What causes mutations to occur due to mobile genetic elements or transposons?
Spontaneous mutations
What do mutagens do?
Cause the mutation rate to be higher than the spontaneous mutation rate
What happens when strand slippage occurs during DNA replication?
A DNA strand may loop out, resulting in addition or deletion of a nucleotide on the newly-synthesized strand
Study Notes
- Lecture 8 focuses on genetic mutations and their repair, with learning outcomes that include understanding replication errors, differentiating between spontaneous and induced mutations, and describing DNA repair mechanisms.
- Replication errors are a source of mutations and can be repaired.
- Mutations can be spontaneous or induced.
- Spontaneous mutations occur naturally in the genome and are typically caused by errors during replication. Other causes include mobile genetic elements and transposons.
- Replication errors leading to spontaneous mutations include slipped strand mispairing, wobble base pairing, depurination or deamination, tautomerism, unequal crossing over, and strand slippage during DNA replication.
- Strand slippage during DNA replication can result in the addition or deletion of a nucleotide on the newly-synthesized strand when a DNA strand loops out.
- Induced mutations are brought about by environmental agents that enter the cell and alter the DNA structure. These agents are known as mutagens.
- Mutagens cause a higher mutation rate than spontaneous mutations.
- Spontaneous and induced mutations differ in their origin and causes. Spontaneous mutations occur naturally, while induced mutations are caused by external factors.
This lecture covers topics related to genetic mutations and their repair, including replication errors, spontaneous and induced mutations, and DNA repair mechanisms.
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